Richard
Byrne
Music Writing
I got my start in journalism as a music reviewer at Baltimore City Paper in the mid-1980s. I had a successful run as a music columnist in St. Louis at The Riverfront Times in the late 80s and early 90s, where I was lucky enough to write about the alternative country movement as it gathered momentum in the Midwest in that era. I've also written liner notes for rereleases of classic records by Uncle Tupelo and R.E.M.
Liner Notes
R.E.M., New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Warner Brothers)
"New Adventures in Hi-Fi is a record made on the road, but not about the road. Its universe is desert, water, and stars."
Uncle Tupelo, No Depression (Sony Legacy)
"It is easy to forget that “country rock” was wildly unfashionable when No Depression was released in June 1990 – a genre exhausted by the gangs of outlaws, flatlanders and desperadoes that strip-mined the badlands of the 1970s."
Uncle Tupelo, Anodyne (Rhino )
"The interplay between Farrar’s haunted landscapes and Tweedy’s sardonic takes on love and music imbues Anodyne with the kinetic energy of a tug-of-war."
Essays and Reviews
On the Road with Uncle Tupelo (Riverfront Times, 1990)
On Serge Gainsbourg (New York Press, 1997)
The Politics of Neil Young (The American Prospect, 2004)
Reinventing Ceca (Time Magazine, 2002)
The Mekons in Mourning (The American Prospect, 2004)
Serbia's Political Rock (Time Magazine, 2002)
